PARIS (Reuters) – France’s conservative Republicans party was fraying on Wednesday after its leader called for an alliance between his party’s candidates and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in a snap parliamentary election.
Eric Ciotti’s call to ditch a decades-long consensus among France’s mainstream political parties and seek to join forces with the far-right has proven too much to stomach for many in his party, the one-time home of former President Jacques Chirac.
Party chiefs called an emergency meeting for later on Wednesday, with some saying Ciotti’s time was up.
“He will no longer be president of the Republicans,” Republicans Senator Agnes Evren told BFM TV. “He will be fired … he has no legitimacy.”
However, it remains unclear what mechanism party chiefs could use to remove Ciotti.
President Emmanuel Macron, who triggered a political earthquake in France by calling snap elections after his drubbing by the far right in Sunday’s European vote, is due to speak with the media later on Wednesday and provide an account of his decision as well as his electoral battle plan.
Yet among the rank-and-file of Macron’s Renaissance party there was gloom about the unpopular president’s decision and little appetite for a bruising campaign.
Edouard Philippe, Macron’s former prime minister and a potential successor in the 2027 presidential election, appeared to hint at the dismay among the centrist coalition and questions over how prominent a role Macron should play in the campaign.
“I’m not sure it’s entirely healthy for the president of the republic to run a legislative campaign,” he said on BFM TV on Tuesday night.
Bank of France chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday that the country needs quick clarity around its budget strategy once the elections are over, amid mounting pressure to trim spending and control a ballooning budget deficit.
French bonds and stocks have underperformed other European markets since Macron called the snap vote.
The anti-immigration, eurosceptic RN is widely expected to emerge as the strongest force after the two-round legislative vote in a few weeks time, but it may fall short of an absolute majority, a poll this week showed.
The Republicans are not the only ones who have been thrown into disarray by the snap election. France’s divided left-wing parties pledged to nominate joint candidates but have yet to strike a formal deal, adding to uncertainty over the outcome of the June 30 and July 7 votes.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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